By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has proposed summit talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Pyongyang, a high-ranking U.S. official said Sunday.
But Seoul's presidential office denied the claim, saying there had been no official summit proposal from the North. Cheong Wa Dae also made it clear that President Lee would not sit down with his North Korean counterpart simply for a photo session.
The Pentagon official told Korean reporters in Washington that he understood the North Korean leader had invited Lee to Pyongyang to hold a summit.
He made the remark while briefing Korean reporters that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was scheduled to visit South Korea on Oct. 21 for the Korea-United States Security Consultative Meeting (SCM).
Shortly after he made the comment, Cheong Wa Dae dismissed it, saying the U.S. official was "misinformed" about the results of the Korea-China summit talks earlier this month and the North Korean delegation's meeting with President Lee in August.
A source from the presidential office said on condition of anonymity that Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao asked President Lee if he would agree to an inter-Korean summit when there is progress in South-North relations.
The source also said the North Korean leader sent a similar message to President Lee in August when a North Korean delegation visited Cheong Wa Dae. The North sent a six-member delegation to the South in August for the funeral of the late former President Kim Dae-jung.
The source said South Korea reiterated its position that it basically agrees with an inter-Korean summit, adding that the U.S. offical was out of context and what he said was far from the reality.
Lee Dong-kwan, senior presidential secretary for public relations, also had an unscheduled press briefing Sunday to explain the government's position on the inter-Korean summit.
"There has been no change in South Korea's position on inter-Korean relations. We keep all options open, including summit talks with the North," he said.
"But we would not seek the summit if holding it goes against our principles or with a calculative move or politically motivated purposes."
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr
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